We’ve teamed up with Nemo Equipment, Smith Sunglasses and Active Junky to bring you another great gear giveaway! Win a summer outdoor package including a Nemo Rhapsody 15-Degree women’s spoon-shaped sleeping bag, a Nemo Fillo inflatable backpacking pillow AND a pair of Smith Mastermind sunglasses. That’s almost a $600 value! Between May 21 and June 12, visit the contest page on Facebook. Enter your first name, zip code and email address – that’s all! We’ll select one random entry after the giveaway ends, who will be contacted via email and notified that their stoke-meter can now rise a few levels.
Here’s what you could get for FREE by simply entering your name, zip code and email:
“Ideas for new products begin with having real experiences in adventure. A passion for adventure is an absolute prerequisite for being part of the team. Welcome to the story of NEMO.”
Our annual Memorial Day Sale is this weekend and we’re getting ready for a few days of fun in the sun and shopping big discounts! We’ll have the big blue Tahoe Mountain Sports tent set up in the parking lot from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Monday, so be sure to stop by when you’re not out enjoying the beautiful weather. You’ll find great deals all weekend – up to 70% off clothing, beach accessories, camping and hiking gear, backpacks, trail running gear and swimwear, and much more!
Here’s the perfect opportunity to try out that new style of running shoe you’ve been curious about. We’re hosting a free event open to the public, and runners of all abilities are welcome. On Saturday, June 8 at 10 a.m., come to Tahoe Mountain Sports in Kings Beach for our Montrail Trail Run Demo. We’ll have lots of great trail shoes for you to check out, and Montrail will present us with a short clinic on proper techniques to keep in mind while you run. Then we’ll head out to jog the network of trails around our neighborhood which, if you haven’t yet explored, are well-maintained, diverse, beautiful and seemingly endless. Bonus: we’re going to raffle off a new pair of Montrail trail running shoes worth up to $110!
Just one gorgeous view from a trail behind Kings Beach.
Runners of all abilities are encouraged to join in the fun! The run will last approximately 45-minutes, and nobody will be pressured to move at an uncomfortable pace. Come out and meet other runners and local trail junkies!
About Montrail footwear:
Montrail understands and supports the modern runner. They use innovative designs in materials and craftsmanship to maximize efficiency and boost performance on roads and trails in over 30 countries worldwide. Montrail has sold their products in specialty outdoor sports stores since 1993, and Tahoe Mountain Sports is proud to have their latest models on our sales floor.
In case you didn’t hear the wave heard ’round the world, let us turn it up a notch for ya. Our Reef sales rep – that’s right, our sales rep - just took the Billabong XXL Big Wave Award for surfing the biggest wave of the year. He also paddled into this 61-foot monster, earning the Pacifico Paddle Award and setting the new world record for the largest wave ever successfully paddled into.
Cortes Bank is located 100 miles off the coast of San Diego. Massive ocean swells break on the bank, and if you pay close attention to the weather patterns and can a way there, you can score some of the largest waves in the world. That’s just what Shawn did on December 21, 2012, when he paddled into this beast:
“That wave was the biggest, craziest ride I’ve ever had,” Dollar explained. ” To be a 100 miles out to see and to catch an open ocean swell that is 60′ + is unreal. Everything came together for me and I’m so stoked that I had the opportunity to be there. That ride was by far the longest most difficult wave I’ve ever surfed. It was also the most rewarding ride of my life.”
Congratulations, Shawn. Don’t spend it all in one place.
Tahoe Mountain Sports and Boreas Gear are teaming up to get real feedback from users like all of you! We’re looking for five outdoor adventurers from around the country to travel with and hike, camp, bike, climb, use and abuse these awesome new travel backpacks. Testers get to keep the pack after they reviewed it!
2012 tester Michael Detwiler took his Boreas pack all over the place.
What do you have to do to get a free Boreas travel backpack? Post a proposal on our Facebook page explaining which Boreas travel pack you think would be best for your adventure(s) and why you would test your pack the best, and we’ll select our favorites by June 6. Planning a two-week game of hopscotch across the Caribbean? Take a Boreas Sapa Trek along for the journey. Wear it as a pack, easily access all your goodies and save weight without compromising organizational features. Hopping trains from one hostel to the next across Europe? The Erawan 50 or the Erawan 70 could be your new favorite travel companion. They’re a new favorite duffle-style pack for international backpackers.! Pack choices will be subject to availability.
The selected testers will submit reviews (500 – 1,000 words) and at least three pictures of themselves using the Boreas Pack by August 6. Do this, and the pack is yours!
We’re working with Boreas to get the word out about their brilliant, award winning backpacking packs, daypacks and cycling packs. Last summer our focus was on backpacking backpacks and day packs. This year it’s the new Boreas travel line. If you’re not familiar with Boreas Gear, they recently set out to create functional, comfortable, clean (less bells & whistles) and reasonably priced backpacks for all sorts of different users: backpackers, cyclists, climbers, mountaineers and minimalists.
We recently sat down with one of the founders, Anders Johnson, to get an overview of their new travel packs.
Over the past century Deuter back systems and technologies have been re-designed time and time again. The brand is centered around three core principles: quality, innovation and sustainability. Their packs: function, fit and ventilation. Since Deuter has a handful of different back systems designed for all sorts of disciplines, we thought we’d make the shopping process a bit easier to help you choose the best pack.
SL – Women’s Fit
Deuter’s SL packs (Slim Line or Short Length) are designed specifically for ladies or smaller, slender guys. The shoulder straps are set closer together and are more narrow with softer edges. The back/torso length is shorter and the hip belt has a conical shape (like a cone) for a more anatomical fit. As a testament to the fact that they fit smaller guys better, the youngest person to climb Mt. Everest was 13-year-old male Jordan Romero, and he did it wearing the ACT Lite 60+10 SL. Any pack with a VariQuick torso adjustment is compatible with SL shoulder straps (sold separately), so you can customize an SL fit without having to buy a new pack. Examples of Deuter SL packs: ACT Trail 20 SL, Quantum 55+10 SL
Deuter Aircomfort The Aircomfort system is a little different on several packs, but they all share one important feature: sweat reduction. It reduces perspiration up to 25%, thus greatly improving your performance and comfort. With 3-way ventilation, one at either side and one at the bottom, you’ll feel good hauling your pack load all day long (comfortable up to roughly 40 lbs.), even in hotter temps and damp climates. Examples of Aircomfort packs: AC Lite 22 , Futura Vario Pro 50+10
Deuter Aircontact Aircontact systems spread the weight of your load evenly and keep your pack’s center of gravity close to your body’s center of gravity. These systems reduce perspiration up to 15% by leaving an air chamber between the breathable back padding and allowing warm air to escape and be replaced by cool, refreshing air. The Aircontact system is used in Deuter’s larger backpacking backpacks, and is meant for loads heavier than 40 lbs. Examples of Aircontact packs: ACT Zero 50+15 , ACT Lite 45+10 SL
Adam Broderick manages the web content at Tahoe Mountain Sports. When he is not in the office, he tries his best to be in the field doing something awesome.
I brought my girlfriend backcountry snowboarding. She blew my mind. She’s athletic to begin with and she rips on a snowboard, but this being her first tour out I didn’t expect her to do as well on the uphill. I called back to her as I searched for an alternate route around the steep, slick and sun-crusted skin track, “This is like an advanced skinning course on beginner-to-intermediate terrain!”
“What!?” she hollered back through the wind.
“Nevermind! Just keep your head up and put one foot after the other. Exactly like that!”
Coming from someone who has trouble getting comfortable in no-fall-zones and sketchy terrain, I expected her to complain and lag a lot more. I gave her a crash course on the basic climbing tips when we first popped up our heel risers, and I never had to repeat myself. Not once. Occasionally I would glance back to see how she was handling the side-stepping, weight-displacement or slippery surface crust, and she was usually steps ahead of my (unnecessary) guidance. She even figured out ‘different pole lengths on steep traverses” on her own and learned to use her pole to initiate her heel risers without my instruction. I repeatedly glanced back to catch her not struggling, but inhaling a deep breath of fresh mountain air and smiling out toward the wild world around us. She concurred with my appreciation for an aerobic workout while skinning up a mountainside: ”I can definitely see the appeal here.”
The only thing she wasn’t prepared for was bitter cold finger tips after going gloveless during the summit switchover, but she’s not to blame for that one. I told her she’d be cool with the pair of spring mid-weights she had, although they lacked the dexterity needed to handle some of the splitboard hardware, then I expected her to be fully engaged during the switch from touring to ride-mode. That was just me wanting her to get the maximum experience from an outing I’ve been praising since we met. I reassembled the first half of her board for her while she took notes for the second half, and I was happy to do so. She had impressed me plenty by this point. Plus, she’s really cute so it’s hard to let little things get under the skin. Especially something as minor as not fully sustaining yourself on your very first backcountry snowboarding adventure. She finished the switchover and we ripped back down the mountain.
Not many people have an extra splitboard setup lying around. Fortunately, I do, however Read the rest of this entry »
This post comes from Pam Jahnke, owner and purchaser at Tahoe Mountain Sports. Pam leads an active outdoor life and she’s all about durable, reliable equipment. She also has a fabulous sense for fashion, so she’s highly skilled in picking the top-performing and best-looking outdoor gear. We asked Pam what she thought would make the best Mother’s Day gifts for moms who love outdoor sports and travel. Here’s the useful motherly advice she had for us:
Flowers are nice, but they die. Give the wonderful outdoors loving mother, wife, grandmother, or partner in your life something they can enjoy everyday and use to keep themselves healthy! I’ve looked through everything in the store to come up with the top three products for runners, hikers and travelers that I think would put a huge smile on someone’s face this Mother’s Day.
There’s Pam, smiling about something she loves dearly.
For the Hiker ~
My friend Dayna and I are planning a weeklong backpacking trip in September so I’m all about hiking and camping gear right now.
A good hydration backpack is a must. I had the same Gregory Backpack for 10 years and just upgraded to the Camelbak Day Star Hydration Pack. Wow, what a difference! This pack feels so good to wear and provides more support than my old pack, plus at 18-liters there’s enough volume to carry everything you need. I also love the Camelbak hydration bladder with Bite Valve.
Sun protection is also a must. That means a good hat and lots of sunscreen. We have tons of great hats right now so I suggest you take a look and pick one that matches your mom’s style. For hiking I like the Prana Sally Sun Hat. It has a medium brim that provides nice coverage without getting in the way of a backpack and it’s lightweight, cute and dries quickly. I recently tried (and became hooked) on Sierra Summits Apres Ultra Light Daily Facial Moisturizer. It has a super light, silky texture and works well to protect, which is very important living at 6,200 feet with never-ending exposure to sun, wind, snow and water.
Now for a cute layering piece. The Patagonia Piton Pullover is a great deal at 30% off. It’s a more techie fleece in a cute package with a smooth face fabrication, so it’s ideal for layering and offers an athletic fit for warmth. This is a great year round piece.
For the Runner ~
There are so many fun and cute things for runners right now!
The Salomon XR Sensibelt is super lightweight with this amazing mesh Velcro belt that adjusts and molds to your body for an exact fit that doesn’t move around. It’s easy to reach your water and the bottle won’t fall out while you’re running.
Yurbuds – These little ear buds are amazing! They have completely changed my running. They come in different sizes so you get a custom fit that’s way more comfortable than one-size-fits-all buds, and they lock into place so you don’t have to adjust them while running. Click here for a useful article with more info and videos about Yurbuds.
This post courtesy of Luke Mehall and Deuter USA. Luke is the publisher of The Climbing Zine, and author of Climbing Out of Bed, a definitive collection of climbing and mountain town stories, available as an e-book on Kindle and Nook. If you’d like to read the original post on Deuter’s blog, click here: http://blog.deuterusa.com/blog-posts/birthday-challenge
This past winter was rough for many regions that were expecting higher snow accumulations, but the dry season made for better rock climbing and other outdoor sports. Thankfully Tahoe Mountain Sports is an all-encompassing gear shop, so they outfit athletes of many disciplines that train in all climates. Get gear for climbing, cycling, trail running, skiing, paddling…you name it. Deuter also makes gear for a multitude of sports, and several Deuter products were used in the making of this story.
My favorite thing about climbing is that if you try hard enough you can always be a champion. It doesn’t matter if you are the best, it matters how it feels.
The Birthday Challenge is a concept passed from climber-to-climber. The format is simple: climb as many routes as the age you are turning.
I’ve always been psyched on the concept, but my birthday is in December, a month when rock climbing and weather don’t always align.
Last spring, while climbing with a relatively new but equally psyched climbing partner, Jonathan “Badger” Mitchell, we discovered our birthdays were three days apart. To top this off, we are only a year apart in age. I told him about The Challenge, and he thought it was super cool. We decided we would do one together, except we’d bend the rules a bit and complete it in the summertime; with longer days and more sunshine it would be easier to achieve.
We immediately began training for the challenge, doing extra pitches after we’d normally retire for the day. At the peak of the summer we reached 20 laps at our local sport climbing crag, The Golf Wall, an overhanging wall of limestone. Then like the summer does it faded away and we’d yet to do The Birthday Challenge. Our dream continued into the fall, but both of us hit the road more to climb. When I returned from my climbing trip I was beat up and had a couple nagging injuries. The Challenge seemed it would have to wait until next year.
You’re going to want to be at the North Tahoe Event Center in Kings Beach on Tuesday, May 14, from 5:45 to 8:00 p.m. We’re partnering with our local library and some great sponsors to host a free 75-minute yoga class at the North Tahoe Event Center in Kings Beach, led by legendary local instructor Shari Beard! After a rejuvenating yoga session we’ll turn our heads toward the runway, where a fabulous fashion show will display the hottest new clothing from Tahoe Mountain Sports. But that’s not all. Next, we’ll have a raffle with lots of great new summer trends from your favorite outdoor clothing brands! The raffle will be one of the best we have put together yet, and it’s all to benefit the Friends of the Kings Beach Library.
Snacks and drinks will be provided to keep you nourished through the event. A donation of $10 or more is suggested, but don’t worry, no one will be turned away. And since a book swap is such a great way to discover new literature, we’re encouraging everyone to bring a book and swap with someone else! Or if you’re feeling friendly, bring a few extra books to donate to our library!
A great assortment of prizes will be up for raffle. Win an amazing new outfit (of your choice!) from top outdoor brands including Prana, Horny Toad and Kuhl! Other cool prizes include merino wool base layers from Smartwool, premium leather sandals from OluKai and performance sport socks from Wigwam.
Raffle tickets are only $10 each, but you can up your odds by getting ten tickets for $50! You don’t need to be present to win, and you can purchase raffle tickets at the door or online anytime before the event. Winners will be drawn during the Yoga Benefit. If you don’t show up but your ticket is drawn, we will let you know via email so you can still collect your winnings.
Shari Beard has been gratefully teaching yoga in the Tahoe/Truckee area for the last 10 years. Shari has a strong foundation in alignment based Hatha yoga. She loves to share how the practice of asana and meditation supports us in living from the heart. Shari is passionate about building community because it lends to accountability and support in living practice of yoga.
About Friends of Kings Beach Library:
The Kings Beach Library is celebrating their 25th Anniversary this year and Placer County is planning a $50,000 remodel. The remodel will help the library update their facility to improve circulation, create more space for people to sit and read or work and improve ADA access. The Friends have been asked to contribute $25,000 towards the remodel. They need your help, so let the fundraising begin!
